Dear Evan Hansen's Steven Levenson on Writing His First Musical

Call it beginner's luck. Steven Levenson had never written a musical until Dear Evan Hansen, which premiered in Washington, D.C. in 2015, opened Off Broadway in 2016, and on Broadway later that year to rave reviews—and this Sunday is nominated for nine Tony Awards, including Best Book of a Musical. Of course, he wasn’t entirely a newcomer, having written extensively for the stage as well as for TV shows including Master of Sex. Here, the playwright talks about the job that changed his career, having two shows on at once, and what he likes best about a very hectic awards season.

There might not be a more talked-about Broadway musical this year than Dear Evan Hansen. How did the show come into your life?I got involved with this show in the spring of 2011. What happened was Benj Pasek, one of the composers, had an experience in high school where one of his classmates died of a drug overdose and, in the wake of his death, there was an outpouring from other students. Everybody wanted a piece of this tragedy, which is pretty common. As the years went by, it stuck with Benj because he found that public clamoring to put oneself into a tragedy only seemed to grow. Benj and Justin [Paul, his writing partner] had talked about that and felt like there was something in that they wanted to explore, but felt like they needed a playwright to help them turn that into a piece of theater. They read a bunch of writers, and liked my plays, so they got in touch with me and told me about the idea. I was instantly really compelled by it, and while I had no experience writing musicals, it didn’t seem crazy to me to make one out of this subject matter. But they assured me it was. The lack of knowing led to a fearlessness that allowed us to move forward.

Steven Levenson.

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You started in 2011 and the show opened on Broadway in 2016. What happened in between?What ended up happening was we spent a lot of time, the three of us, hashing out different variations on story ideas and characters. What we all found interesting was taking that phenomenon [of people attaching themselves to tragedies] and instead of talking about it in a really easy way, talking about the human impulse beneath the phenomenon. We felt like it had something to do with people’s need for connection and that, in spite of the fact that the internet has connected us, there is a real sense of isolation. When we started to talk about that, we were thinking about a character who’s not capable of connecting, someone who didn’t understand how to connect with other people. So, I wrote the first act like a play and left room where I thought songs could go. Then I gave that back to Benj and Justin and they came back to me with thoughts, and we did that back and forth for about five more years.

At what point did you recognize that what you were working on might be something really special?We had moments of real excitement throughout the process because we were so interested in the story and compelled by what we were doing. But there were also a lot of moments of incredible doubt. I’ll never forget the first preview we had in D.C., where we had our first production. It was so tense and stressful because we didn’t know what was going to happen; we were sure the whole thing would fall on its face. It’s a tricky story, and we’re asking the audience to spend the whole play with a character who doesn’t tell the truth. But when audiences seemed to respond in that very first preview, we looked at each other and said, “Ok, we’re not crazy.” That was the first moment we felt like maybe we had something.

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This year you also had a play, If I Forget, that ran Off-Broadway. How did you manage having two shows running at once?Last summer, there were a lot of sleepless nights of turning to my wife to say, “I don’t think I can do this.” The play needed a lot of work, the musical needed a lot of work, and I just didn’t know where I was going to find the time. I was petrified, but by the time we were in rehearsals, Dear Evan Hansen had opened so I had a bit of breathing room.

And now you’re in the midst of awards season. How’s that treating you?The great thing about all of this is that every day is a different event and it’s incredible to get to be in the same room as all of these people who’ve been my heroes. It’s so gratifying, but it’s also weird. We all probably feel this way, that we’ve labored over these projects in isolation for such a long time and now suddenly it’s so public. It’s scary to be on display and to feel like this thing you made is suddenly out there in the world. You don’t want to lose sight of the magic that happened before.

Is there anything you’re hoping comes your way next?I’m really excited to keep working on musicals. There’s part of me that’s really excited to take on something on a larger scale—Hansen was always a chamber piece in a way. I’m always exciting by taking on something I don’t know how to do, and that seems like a really great challenge.

Adam RatheSenior Editor, Arts and CultureAdam Rathe is a senior editor at Town & Country, covering arts and culture and a range of other subjects.

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